Carrying bouquet, and handkerchief, and gloves,
Proud of her height as when she lived, she moves
With all the careless and high-stepping grace,
And the extravagant courtesan’s thin face.
Was slimmer waist e’er in a ball-room wooed?
Her floating robe, in royal amplitude,
Falls in deep folds around a dry foot, shod
With a bright flower-like shoe that gems the sod.
The swarms that hum about her collar-bones
As the lascivious streams caress the stones,
Conceal from every scornful jest that flies,
Her gloomy beauty; and her fathomless eyes
Are made of shade and void; with flowery sprays
Her skull is wreathed artistically, and sways,
Feeble and weak, on her frail vertebrae.
O charm of nothing decked in folly! they
Who laugh and name you a Caricature,
They see not, they whom flesh and blood allure,
The nameless grace of every bleached, bare bone,
That is most dear to me, tall skeleton!
Come you to trouble with your potent sneer
The feast of Life! or are you driven here,
To Pleasure’s Sabbath, by dead lusts that stir
And goad your moving corpse on with a spur?
Or do you hope, when sing the violins,
And the pale candle-flame lights up our sins,
To drive some mocking nightmare far apart,
And cool the flame hell lighted in your heart?
Fathomless well of fault and foolishness!
Eternal alembic of antique distress!
Still o’er the curved, white trellis of your sides
The sateless, wandering serpent curls and glides.
And truth to tell, I fear lest you should find,
Among us here, no lover to your mind;
Which of these hearts beat for the smile you gave?
The charms of horror please none but the brave.
Your eyes’ black gulf, where awful broodings stir,
Brings giddiness; the prudent reveller
Sees, while a horror grips him from beneath,
The eternal smile of thirty-two white teeth.
For he who has not folded in his arms
A skeleton, nor fed on graveyard charms,
Recks not of furbelow, or paint, or scent,
When Horror comes the way that Beauty went.
O irresistible, with fleshless face,
Say to these dancers in their dazzled race:
“Proud lovers with the paint above your bones,
Ye shall taste death, musk scented skeletons!
Withered Antinoüs, dandies with plump faces,
Ye varnished cadavers, and grey Lovelaces,
Ye go to lands unknown and void of breath,
Drawn by the rumour of the Dance of Death.
From Seine’s cold quays to Ganges’ burning stream,
The mortal troupes dance onward in a dream;
They do not see, within the opened sky,
The Angel’s sinister trumpet raised on high.
In every clime and under every sun,
Death laughs at ye, mad mortals, as ye run;
And oft perfumes herself with myrrh, like ye
And mingles with your madness, irony!
A gloriously elegant representation of Lady Death. Dry, bone-white orris, black musk, serpentine patchouli and our murkiest myrrh.
ranepage11 –
Solitude. Falling into one’s thoughts. These are the feelings I have when experiencing this scent. Sharp scent like a cool breeze flowing thru pine trees. (I like to layer with Black Forest for a “meditation upon death in the forest” kind of experience)
Claire –
piney key-limey, with ramune or japanese baking soda candy and cola. this is a fresh and bubbly cleanily little fragrance
Gloame –
I got this as a frimp in the same order as Theoi Nomioi and there’s a definite resemblance at first sniff. Both are sharp, green, chewy pine. Almost like you can squish the seeping sap between your fingers and roll it up into little balls.
This is super clean and green. It smells like open windows and spring cleaning. It’s fresh and beautiful, but not something I’d wear. It would make a very nice room scent.
And if you miss Theoi Nomioi this is a good alternative.
Iconocaustic –
This reminds me very much of one of those new age stores, which is awesome because I have always loved that scent. It’s warm and, according to my SO, very sensual.
Hellokoi –
The pine and juniper can come off as very sharp, cold and menthol-like, but I find this to be very calming, like walking through a pine forest and breathing in the smell of sharp needles and resinous pine sap. The musk gives it a golden, warm quality in the drydown.
xaglow –
This reminds me of the forest near my house (BC, Canada). It is deep, and lush when wet and dries nice and cool. Great forest scent.
Luca Turin –
An ancient, haunted pine forest…I love this scent.. It isn’t a bright spring green but rather an earthy and deep pine and resin…rich and complex. It is from the kind of forest that doesn’t exist anymore. It also lasts a good 6 hours on the skin before needing refreshed. Simply smelling it lifts my spirits and deepens my imagination.
Sara –
Crisp pine, the sweaty smell of musk, and wet earth. As pine scents go, I prefer Black Forest because the amber makes it so warm and comforting. But really, they are both great. This is just darker and cooler. it smells slightly minty.